Emma Raducanu won a “tough” match against Payton Stearns in the first round of the Korea Open in Seoul.
The British player, ranked 70th in the world, played her first match. 1st round US Open exit And in just 2 hours and 43 minutes, he won 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5) against the 48th-ranked American opponent.
“I’m proud to have made it to the next round. It was tough and humid,” said Raducanu.
“It was a tough game. I haven’t played much in the last few months.
“Payton is a really good player and he’s in great shape, so I’m really happy.”
Raducanu started strongly by breaking Stance in the first game, lost serve in the next game but broke his opponent again to go ahead 2-1.
There were eight breaks of serve in the first set, and Raducanu’s 74-minute tiebreaker victory foreshadowed things to come.
Both players had break points in the second set, with Raducanu winning a break point to take a 5-3 lead.
But as the game went on, she was broken while serving for the match, and Stearns also failed to hold serve when leading 6-5.
After a second set that lasted 89 minutes, the match went to a tiebreak, which Raducanu won to secure the victory.
Raducanu will next play China’s Yue Yuan, ranked world number 40, in the next round.
